


Voices in the Dark

by orphan_account



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Backstory, Disabled Character, Female Friendship, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Revenge, Reversing Maria Hill's whitewashing, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-20 00:18:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7383361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been sixty-four days since the fall of Shield and Akela Amador has finally gotten her hands on Von Strucker's location. She'll need an old friend's help to finish the job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Voices in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> betaed by trascendenza

**Present Day**

The entire group groaned when Rob laid down his cards to reveal four jacks.

“Thanks for the money, gentlemen. I'll use it to get my shoes shined in the morning. Care for another round?”

“I'm out,” Larry said, shoving his cards away in disgust. “This is the fifth time you've won, Rob. We know you're cheating.”

“And how exactly do you think I'm doing that? I can't see through the cards.”

Rob sat back in his chair, his hands folded in his lap.

“Or maybe,” said a woman's voice behind him, “you have a miniature spy camera installed in this room. One that's real easy to trace.”

Rob and Larry never had a chance. Her face was the last thing they saw before the sound of bullets swept them off to the afterlife.

…

Akela stared at the remaining poker player.

“You know what I want,” she said, pointing her gun at him.

“We are Hydra,” he said in a thick German accent. “Cut off one head -”

“Yeah, I know, two more will grow.” Akela snorted. “Thing is you and your buddies don’t look like heads to me, more like tails.”

The man was standing up straight and proud, shoulders back like a toy solider.

“You have failed, I will never give up my allegiance to Hydra,” he said with a smile.

“I never expected you to give up your allegiance to anything. All I need is your fingerprint to get into the database.”

….

“Damn it,” Akela muttered, several hours later. She had tried every decryption she could think of, with no results. She resisted the impulse to scratch her non-existent right eye. The doctors had warned her about phantom itching, but it hadn’t really kicked in until Hydra broke into the minimum security prison she was holed up in. They’d been looking for allies to join their cause. Instead, Akela had kicked their butts and gone off on her own mission.

She turned and stared at herself in the hotel mirror. A short-haired, dark skinned woman with her right eyelid sewed shut. Akela wore sunglasses in public, but in private she had taken to wearing an eyepatch like Nick Fury’s...when she bothered at all. She missed having depth perception, but not the constant surveillance that came with her old cybernetic eye.

Akela turned back to the laptop. She had made a lot of progress in sixty-four days, but it was obvious she couldn’t finish her self-appointed mission alone. Coulson was out there somewhere, but she didn’t trust him. She had gone through the data Romanoff had dumped on the internet. Coulson was supposed to have died in 2012 and she had met him six months ago, alive and suspiciously forgiving. Something wasn’t right there. No, there was only one person Akela could trust.

…

Maria’s apartment was austere and military-grade. There were no adornments or knick knacks, no photos of family or friends. Maria had never been one for sentiment.

“You can come out now, Akela. I know you’re there.”

Maria Hill was sitting on the couch in the living room, clad in a navy blue business suit.

“It took twenty minutes for a one-eyed woman to find this place and breach its security. Maybe sitting at a desk all day has made you soft, Hill.”

Maria raised an eyebrow in response.

“Or maybe I need to upgrade my security. Not that the FBI, CIA, or Homeland Security has anyone better than you.”

Maria pulled off her heels and stretched her legs out on the couch.

“You won't believe how amazingly stressful a corporate job can be,” she continued. “Pepper took me to one of the world's best massage therapists and he still couldn't get all of the knots out of my neck. Let's not even start with the heels.”

Akela held out the flash drive containing every piece of data she’d managed to get her hands on in the past two months.

“Hill, I need your help. Something big is going down in Hydra and I can’t stop it on my own.”

Anyone else would have missed the way Maria’s eyes lit up with excitement, but Akela knew her old friend too well.

“There’s scotch in one of the kitchen cabinets,” Maria said in a deceptively casual manner. “I’ll grab us a bottle and we’ll look this over.”

Akela shook her head as Maria headed in the direction of the kitchen.

“By the way,” she hollered as Maria made her way down the hall, “your blond friend, the one I saw leaving earlier. Tell him he’s terrible at going incognito.”

…

**Fifteen Years Ago**

Akela meant “lucky” in Hawaiian. In another life, she would have laughed at the irony. Akela's parents drowned in a boating accident when she was five. Afterwards, she moved from foster home to foster home, until she finally turned seventeen and joined the army.

Two years and one tour later, Akela decided she’d had enough of the army. She applied for Shield Academy and got in by the skin of her teeth.

“Hey, hey,” said a dark-haired, olive-skinned woman when Akela entered her new dorm room. “My name's Maria or Hill, I answer to both. Any other names you might hear...just ignore them. I'll be your roommate for the next two terms.”

The two women cautiously shook hands.

In some ways, they were as different as night and day, but they were friends from the start. Yeah, Maria got called a goody two shoes and a know-it-all by a few other students, but they were just jealous. Maria was popular and the favorite of all her professors. Akela was a loner who kept to herself. Both women earned top marks, though, and were at the top of their class. Akela only had one major flaw: teamwork. She preferred to work alone.

And yet, Akela saw a sort of kindred spirit behind Maria's pretty brown eyes. She was confident and level-headed, but there was something fake and superficial about the way she interacted with the other students, like she was holding something back. Akela had learned to read people pretty well by that point and she was damn sure Maria was hiding a secret.

She found out the truth at the end of their third year. The two of them had gotten drunk on Moscato and stumbled back to their room, laughing as they collapsed on their beds.

“There was a shooting at my high school in my junior year,” Maria blurted out into the silence as Akela was falling asleep. “The shooter was my ex-boyfriend. Several of my friends were killed.”

Maria exhaled loudly, pressing her palm against her forehead.

“ I was out sick with the stomach flu that day or I could have stopped him. He would have listened to me. I promised that day that nothing like that would ever happen under my watch. I guess I joined SHIELD to protect the innocent from incompetent assholes.”

“Oh, so you're one of those. Maria Hill, defender of the Earth.”

Maria giggled.

“Seriously, Hill, you can't beat yourself up for some might-have-been. For all you know, you could have died with your friends. Let it go or it will eat you up inside. Besides, those shrinks will see right through you. You'll never get anywhere in this agency if you keep that pain inside of you.”

….

Present Day

“Wolfgang Von Strucker,” Maria said, “I really hoped that we had taken him out. I always felt there was something off about him. The name just oozes evil.”

“So, we have his location. We know he has Loki’s scepter. Let’s get a team together and go after him.”

The two women were standing in Stark Industries. After a couple hours of going through a few Stark technicians, Maria had finally found someone who could crack the final piece of encryption.

Maria sighed.

“I don’t have a team anymore, Akela, at least not one who can take on the likes of Von Strucker. We’re going to have to call in the Avengers.”

Akela shook her head in disgust.

“Those folks? They’ll just make a mess of everything.”

“They will, but they’ll get the job done. Then, I’ll clean up the mess. Besides, Romanoff’s pretty clear-headed and Rogers isn’t half-bad.”

Akela turned back to the laptop with Von Strucker’s information to hide her expression of disappointment, only to feel a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I’m not going to say I understand what you’re going through, Akela. Part of me wants to go down to Sokovia and cross off Von Strucker myself. An old friend once told me that you have to let go or the pain will eat you up inside. You're a free woman now, enjoy it. Take a vacation, my treat. I’ll send you anywhere you want to go, except Sokovia.”

Akela turned back to her former roommate.

“When was the last time you took a vacation, Hill?”

She could almost see the wheels turning in Maria’s head.

“Eight years.”

Akela snorted.

“Sounds about right.”

…

Nine Years Ago

Maria found her sitting at the edge of the swimming pool, the night before graduation.

“You know, for a woman from Hawaii, you sure seem to hate the water. This is the first time I’ve ever seen you here.”

Akela rolled her eyes.

“You’ve never been a big fan of swimming yourself, Hill. Strange for a Puerto Rican.”

“Half-Puerto Rican,” Maria corrected, “and I’m third-generation. My mother was born in Chicago. It’s my grandparents who were born on that island.”

Akela snorted and the two women sat quietly for several minutes before Maria broke the silence.

“Okay, what is it, Amador? Graduation jitters?”

“I guess you could say that...today is...”Akela stared at the lights flickering on the surface of the pool, taking a breath. “It’s the day my parents died, eighten years ago. Ever since then, I wouldn’t get near water if I could help it. But now I’m about to become a Shield agent and I don’t know what’s coming next. There’s so much uncertainty.

Maria nodded in understanding.

“I feel that way too, Akela, but there’s really only one way to find out what lies ahead.”

With that Maria pushed her into the pool. Akela shrieked and pulled Maria in with her. The two women wrestled, each trying to get the other’s head below the water. After realizing they were too much of an even match they gave up, dissolving into fits of laughter.

….

Present Day

Both women watched the footage of the Avengers raiding Von Strucker’s base from the safety of Maria’s office.

“Well it wasn’t easy, but they did it. Now I’m on cleanup duty. I don’t suppose you would be interested in joining me.”

Akela shook her head.

“It’s been fun, but I need to go my own way, Maria. Don’t worry, I’ll send you a postcard now and then. Go have fun on your date with Captain America.”

Maria didn’t even bother to look embarrassed.

“Nothing gets by you, Amador. That’s what made you such a great agent. Take care of yourself.”

Akela slipped her sunglasses back on and left the office. Maybe she would take that vacation before diving back into the thick of things.


End file.
